At the hotel

Our favourite rooms

We loved the themed rooms, in particular the seductive Sala Noire, the resplendent red and gold Sala del Doge and Sala del Camino for its huge fireplace. Overlooking the canal and the church, Deluxe room 332 and the Sala dei Mori have the best views. Modern, wood-beamed Suite 336 has a Jacuzzi tub at the foot of the bed.

Packing tips

Comfortable shoes; mosquito repellent in summer.

Also

The hotel organises tailored tours around the city and you can take a gondola ride across to the Grand Canal to view the Royal Palace.

Children

This is a grown-up getaway for over-16s only; the apartment suite, with its extra bedroom, is the one to go for if you’re travelling en famille.

Food & Drink

Hotel Restaurant

Only breakfast is served. Italian-style afternoon tea is available on the terrace, weather permitting.

Hotel Bar

You can order evening drinks anywhere in the hotel. We suggest the breakfast room or the Moroccan Terrace on the second floor; in summer, you can have a tipple brought to you outside. After 9pm, there’s an honesty bar, stocked with prosecco, spirits and a selection of soft drinks.

Room service

A light, limited menu of salads, snacks and tasting plates is available from 11am until 11pm.

Smith Insider

Dress code

Ducal and decadent.

Top table

Find a spot on the ponyskin sofas in the cosy living room, and take your tea there. You’re almost at water level, so the fascinating view of the nearby bridge and church is unlike any you’ll see from the upper floors.

Local Guide

Worth getting out of bed for

Viewpoint Enjoy a 360-degree look across the city from the Campanile di San Marco.Arts and culture Venice is packed full of churches, museums and galleries. We love the Museum of Modern Art (San Stae waterbus stop). The neighbourhood, Dorsoduro, is arty in the extreme: as well as the Peggy Guggenheim collection (+39 041 240 5411), it’s home to the exhibition spaces of the avant-garde Fondazione Emilio e Annabianco Vedova (+39 041 522 6626) – a ‘floating gallery’, where paintings aren’t hung on the walls, but suspended from the ceiling.Something for nothing Get a taste of what it feels like to be on a gondola for next to nothing: look for the yellow ‘Traghetto’ signs and follow them to the water. It’s a shuttle gondola service that costs 40c. If you want one to yourself, the average price is €100 an hour.Shopping You’ll find all the designer labels around San Marco, and especially on Calle Larga 22 Marzo. Boutiques and gift shops line the streets between Piazza San Marco and the Rialto. Don’t buy masks in the tourist area: close to the hotels is Ca’Macana on Calle delle Botteghe, which made the masks for Eyes Wide Shut. For something different, buy a forcole, the wooden oar rest on a gondola; Saverio Pastor’s workshop is on Fondamenta Soranzo in
Dorsoduro (522 5699). For Murano glass, try to get to the island of Murano itself.And… Visit the town of Asolo, among the cypress-covered Dolomite hills, or the island of Torcello, the site of the original main square. The fish market in Rialto runs Tuesdays to Saturdays. Venice has a beach: you can hire cabanas for the day, but they’re not cheap.

Local restaurants

Linea d’Ombra (+39 041 241 1881) on Ponte de l’Umiltà is a great restaurant on the canal, and the perfect plot to head to in summer, thanks to the lovely terrace with views across to the Giudecca, and the chef’s modern take on classic Venetian dishes. Ai Gondolieri (+39 041 528 6396), close to the Guggenheim, is popular with local and visiting carnivores for its meaty Veneto dishes of game and pork, and is famed for its gnocchi and polenta. There’s a decent wine list, too. Waterside on the Zattere, La Piscina is the eatery attached to the historic pensione La Calcina, and makes for breezy terrace dining from a delectably down-to-earth menu (+39 041 520 6466). Cantinone Storico on Fondamenta Bragadin (+39 041 523 9577) is good for seafood, and has an impressive wine cellar. Definitely try to get a seat by the canal in summer or by the window in winter. Ask the waiter to tell you about the specials – and then trust his recommendations.

Across the Grand Canal: For a cosy, wine-bottles-on-the-wall kind of osteria, try Cantina Canaletto (+39 041 521 2661) in Castello. Trattoria alle Testiere on Calle del Mondo Novo (+39 041 522 7220) specialises in fish. At Bancogiro on Campo San Giacometto (+39 041 523 2061), ask for a window seat. Trattoria do Forni on Calle Specchieri (+39 041 523 2148) is very classical; book dinner in the Orient Express room. Ristorante da Fiore on Calle del Scaleter (+39 041721 308) is one of the best restaurants; book a month in advance. Poste Vecie, on Rialto Pescheria (+39 041 721 822), is Venice’s oldest restaurant, reached by a private bridge. Il Refolo is a great pizzeria near the Museum of Modern Art (+39 041524 0016), though not open all year round. Anice Stellato on Fondamenta della Sensa, Cannaregio (+39 041 720 744) does fabulous fish with subtle spicing. Locanda Montin on Fondamenta di Borgo (+39 041 522 7151) serves great antipasti on a vine-covered terrace.

Local bars

Sip a bellini on the floating pontoon of Cip’sClub, watching the sun set over the water. (Hotel Cipriani operates a free boat service to and from its private landing stage.) Try Centrale on Piazza San Marco, for good tunes and great cocktails. Taverna da Baffo in Campo Sant’Agostin stays open until 02h.

Local cafés

A coffee in Piazza San Marco won’t come cheap, but there’s a reason why the tourists flock there – it’s spectacular; and if you’re lucky you’ll have an orchestral soundtrack. Head to Campo Santa Margherita, where students, bohemian types and families gather to eat. Al Marca on San Polo is good for a pre-dinner drink if you’re north of Ponte Rialto. Peggy Guggenheim Collection Café in the 18th-century Palazzo Venier dei Leoni is a sophisticated spot for a coffee in the wonderful garden of the museum of modern art. It is elegant and peaceful: no wonder the art lover chose this to be her final resting place.

Ca Maria Adele

111 Dorsoduro, Venice, Venice 30123

Planes

From Venice's Marco Polo airport, approach the city by crossing the lagoon on the Alilaguna (www.alilaguna.it) to San Marco, which takes roughly an hour depending on which line you choose. It costs around €30 for the express and €13 for the other routes. From there it’s a quick change to Route 1 of the ACTV (www.actv.it) vaporetto in the direction of Piazzale Roma. Get off at Salute, stroll in front of the church, and Ca Maria Adele will be on your left. Alternatively, Trieste, Verona and Treviso airports are all possibilities. The first two have bus links to their main train stations, and are then a one-hour or three-hour train journey respectively; Treviso has a direct bus (www.atvo.it) link to Piazzale Roma in Venice, from where a 30-minute journey on Route 1 of the vaporetto will take you to Salute.

Trains

Venice’s main station is Venezia Santa Lucia; see Trenitalia (www.trenitalia.com) for information on Italian trains. To reach the hotel, take the vaporetto down the Grand Canal from Santa Lucia to Salute (roughly 30 minutes on Route 1).

Automobiles

Venice is not made for cars and does not allow them into the city, so if you have driven from another part of Italy or the airport, you will need to leave your vehicle either on the mainland, which is easier, cheaper and avoids the sometimes colossal traffic jams, or at the edge of the city centre. If you park on the mainland in Mestre, you can choose between the rail station (and then proceed by train) or the San Giuliano parking lot (and proceed by boat).

Other

The hotel has a private landing-stage for boats.

Reviews

Anonymous review

Is it how Venice lies along the gulf like an ageing courtesan on her chaise-longue, being caressed by the Adriatic? Maybe it’s the continual rocking of the pontoons. Either way: Venice is sexy. Especially when you are away from family, paperwork and Newsnight in bed for a whole weekend. Ah, Ca Maria Adele – even saying the name of our proposed place of repose is as pleasurable as a kis…

Ca Maria Adele

Anonymous review by Danny Webb, Acting arbiter

Is it how Venice lies along the gulf like an ageing courtesan on her chaise-longue, being caressed by the Adriatic? Maybe it’s the continual rocking of the pontoons. Either way: Venice is sexy. Especially when you are away from family, paperwork and Newsnight in bed for a whole weekend. Ah, Ca Maria Adele – even saying the name of our proposed place of repose is as pleasurable as a kiss of Mrs Smith’s neck.

Splashes from water taxis fuelled by diesel and espresso-pumped young men elicit squeals of pleasure and the occasional ‘Vaffanculo’. I cover Mrs Smith’s ears. No need for us to rush – an idling introduction is what this glamorous getaway needs, and we jump aboard Vaporetto 1 to cross the Grand Canal to Salute.

Too early for check-in, we forgo a coffee in the hotel, and take a stroll around Dorsoduro. The neighbourhood is quiet and serene; within a few hundred yards, Mrs Smith and I are alone in shoulder-wide alleys that end at canals. Washing hangs from lines draped across courtyards. We pause in a bar full of chattering locals enjoying cold white wine and crusty bread with prawns before returning to our bellboy, by now poised to show us to our top-floor boudoir.

Ancient oak beams clad a high ceiling above a bed the height of Olympus, as wide as the Grand Canal. At its foot is a gondola-sized bath. Mrs Smith is beside herself. And the view! Santa Maria della Salute looms so large we could take mass from under our duvet.

Reluctantly, we prise ourselves away – the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, former home of the ex-flapper socialite and art passionista, beckons. Minutes later, we’re surrounded by Peggy’s 20th-century collection of Pollocks, Picassos, Mirós and Magrittes. It feels wonderfully naughty to wallow in modern art while touring this historic waterside city.

Masterpieces ogled and appetites whetted, we consult Alessandro at Ca Maria Adele about dinner and he books us into the Linea Dombra on Canale della Giudecca. In a bid to freshen up, I set my sights on the Jacuzzi, and discover, to my delight, that our tub lights up like a Seventies disco. Mrs Smith soon tires of my pyrotechnics and demands attention before we take the two-minute skip to our high-end supper spot.

Leaving the restaurant lighter-headed (and light-walleted), we’re ready to see more of the city by moonlight. Mainly, Piazza San Marco. The late hour means fewer people, delicate lighting and the gentle strains of music from the cafés. Salute, too, has no one around, and it feels as though it’s ours alone. There’s just the sound of lapping water and a distant cat as we stroll back to our hotel.

With its assortment of spirits, ice and lemon slices, a beautifully laid-out honesty bar makes a nightcap on the terrace irresistible. Overlooked by a clocktower (mercifully quiet at night), its palm trees, Moroccan shutters and tables lit from within lend warmth and exoticism. White rose petals sprinkled over a breakfast list on our bed beg us to think of food again… Cheese omelette with bacon and fruit salad, freshly squeezed orange and Jasmine tea will be the boost we need for tomorrow’s touring.

What a wonderful city it is that has you stumbling through an open door into a schoolroom-sized space full of beautiful paintings. We linger in a secret world for 10 minutes until an old gentleman chucks us out. And it isn’t long until we’re eating again, this time tempted into a noisy local trattoria at the end of Via Garibaldi, the widest street in Venice, where a greengrocer’s barge floats in front.

Then it’s on to Harry’s Bar – Mrs Smith is intrigued. We’ll save you the trouble: it’s a bit expensive and the waiters should visit Ca Maria Adele for a lesson in how charming staff can be. Inevitably, our hotel’s seductive lounge draws us back. Mrs Smith picks through coffee-table books and international papers while I sneak off to the corner of our room that has a leather chair in the eaves. Here, in what Mrs Smith dubs my Venetian ‘man shed’, I learn some of my lines before bed.

Mrs Smith has one insistence for our last day. Her heroine is Katharine Hepburn. Our task? To find where she fell into into the canal in 1950s film Summer Madness. As luck would have it, it’s nearby, at the Campo San Barnaba. After a photo session (and some strange looks), we settle on the water’s edge for our final lunch: a couple of rolls liberated from breakfast, and half a bottle of wine. We dine like young student lovers listening to the throb of liners and car ferries leaving the lagoon. We linger as long as we can, but Alessandro has ordered our water taxi. Plotting our return, we hope it won’t be long until we once again savour solitude in a crowded city.

The Guestbook

Reviews of Ca Maria Adele from Smith members

Whenever you book a stay through us, we’ll invite you to comment when you get back. Read the Guestbook entries below to see what real-life Mr & Mrs Smiths have said about this hotel…

Sarah

BlackSmith

Stayed on
22 Sep 2014

We loved

Ca Maria Adele is everything that was promised - and more. It's hard to be a standout in a phenomenal place like Venice, but CMA truly is. The hotel itself is a gorgeous old villa which has been lovingy restored into a chic, sexy and intimate small hotel. The public spaces are to die, and that Moorish terrace was like our own private spot overlooking the neighborhood street. We loved having breakfast and cocktails there and watching the families come and go from the small school across the way. The really cool part is being so close yet so far from the madding crowds of Piazza San Marco!

Don’t expect

The rooms depicted on the site only showed the truly magnificent ones. Our first room had a closet for a bathroom, but the concierge was more than gracious in moving us into a more spacious room.

Rating:
8/10 stars

Wendy

BlackSmith

Stayed on
22 Aug 2014

We loved

We stayed here in August, and it could not have been more perfect. The hotel is located on the Grand Canal, just opposite St Mark's Square. Upon entering the hotel, we knew we were in for a treat. Nicola greeted us at the front desk and asked us to sit in the lounge to enjoy a glass of Prosecco before taking us up to our room. The decor is out of this world - eclectic, charming, and over the top wonderful. We felt 100% pampered by the attentive staff. It was as if their life's duty was to please us. The toiletries in our room were great - I admit, I pinched the shampoo and conditioner when we left - Gilchrist Soames. We asked for, and received excellent advice about dining in the neighbourhood, and the staff helped organise a private gondola tour (with prosecco, of course!) and a trip to Murano. They could not have been more helpful or friendly. We can't wait to come back again - I'd never stay anywhere else in Venice! I find it hard to think of how this hotel could be improved.

Rating:
10/10 stars

Jonathan

BlackSmith

Stayed on
19 Aug 2014

We loved

I loved being upgraded to a Concept room on arrival – my jaw actually dropped when we went in. It was an amazing room. I loved ordering breakfast the evening before, and being able to select the time and where you wanted to eat (terrace, room, lounge, breakfast room). The staff was attentive and polite.

Don’t expect

I would've preferred not to have the mini sales pitch to visit the glass-blowing island for free, where staff then do the hard sell on glassware.